Soil Biology & Biochemistry最新文献

{"title":"SOC stabilisation shifts from carbon accumulation in temperate soils to mineral association in subtropical soils","authors":"Yijia Tang,&nbsp;Thi Kim Anh Tran,&nbsp;Budiman Minasny,&nbsp;Shiva Bakhshandeh,&nbsp;Mingming Du,&nbsp;Nicolas Francos,&nbsp;Yin-Chung Huang,&nbsp;Ho Jun Jang,&nbsp;Wartini Ng,&nbsp;Peipei Xue,&nbsp;Alex McBratney","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110101","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110101","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil organic carbon (SOC) is operationally partitioned into particulate organic carbon (POC) and mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC) to infer soil carbon persistence and sensitivity to disturbance or management. Yet the combined roles of climate, mineralogy, and land use in shaping these fractions remain unresolved across continental gradients. Here, we analysed 249 Australian topsoils from 65 paired sites along a 550 mm rainfall isohyet. Samples were grouped into four climate–texture clusters (Subtropical Coarse, Subtropical Fine, Temperate Coarse, Temperate Fine) to disentangle the effects of thermal and hydrological regimes, soil properties, and land use on SOC partitioning and stabilisation. Subtropical soils consistently exhibited a high proportion of MAOC (fMAOC ≈ 0.8) despite low SOC stocks, reflecting preferential retention of mineral–organic interactions under carbon-limited and water-stressed conditions. In contrast, temperate soils stored greater SOC and POC, indicating higher carbon inputs and slower decomposition. In subtropical fine-textured soils, agriculture elevated fMAOC through microbial activity and nutrient inputs, yet this occurred alongside depleted SOC and POC, highlighting a trade-off between stabilisation efficiency and carbon stock depletion. Across all clusters, land use effects were detectable but secondary to climate and mineral properties. These findings show that temperate and subtropical soils follow contrasting carbon stabilisation pathways: temperate systems store more carbon overall, while subtropical systems allocate a larger share of their carbon to mineral-associated carbon. Our climate–texture framework highlights region-specific management priorities: enhancing mineral–organic interactions through increased root inputs and organic or mineral amendments in subtropical soils, and protecting vulnerable carbon stocks through reduced disturbance and residue retention in temperate systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"215 ","pages":"Article 110101"},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146024528","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The role of bacterial rrn copy number in shaping ecological strategies in soil: Is it time to re-evaluate this functional trait?","authors":"Jaron Adkins ,&nbsp;Karen M. Foley ,&nbsp;Karen H. Beard ,&nbsp;Trisha B. Atwood ,&nbsp;Bonnie G. Waring","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110099","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110099","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Developing a mechanistic understanding of how soil microbial communities underlie ecosystem functions has become a pressing need in the face of rapid environmental change. In service of this goal, soil microbial ecologists have sought to develop general principles about the ecological strategies that soil microbes adopt and the functional traits that contribute to those strategies. Among bacteria, the trait most commonly invoked as an indicator for bacterial performance and ecological strategy in soils is bacterial <em>rrn</em> operon copy number (RCN), which is frequently applied as an indicator of a bacterial community's position on a continuum of copiotrophic vs oligotrophic ecological strategies. The use of RCN as a proxy for bacterial ecological strategy is based on the premise that RCN mediates a tradeoff between bacterial growth rate and growth yield efficiency. However, support for RCN in mediating a growth rate-yield tradeoff is limited to a small number of studies performed in culture environments, and there is no evidence for the involvement of RCN in such a tradeoff in real soils. In contrast, emerging evidence suggests that RCN has a positive influence on soil extracellular enzyme activity, indicating that RCN may be a functional trait related to decomposition activity in soils. Here, we draw on new and previously published empirical data as well as simulation modelling to reassess the contribution of RCN to bacterial ecological strategies in soils. We conclude that while RCN is positively associated with bacterial growth rate and soil exoenzyme activity under some resource conditions, its relationship to growth yield efficiency remains unclear. Considering this, we suggest that RCN holds promise for understanding the contribution of soil bacteria to ecosystem functions, but the common application of RCN as an indicator of overall bacterial ecological strategy is inappropriate in light of current evidence.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"215 ","pages":"Article 110099"},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146001492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How nitrifiers denitrify?","authors":"Kaihang Zhang,&nbsp;Lei Cheng","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110098","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110098","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The sources of nitrous oxide (N₂O), a potent and long-lived greenhouse gas, remain highly uncertain. This uncertainty arises largely from limited understanding of nitrifier denitrification, the reduction of nitrite by ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) (Zhu et al., 2013). Here, we propose a novel conceptual framework to address the long-standing question of whether AOB could persist via nitrifier denitrification under hypoxic and/or anoxic conditions. We present an analysis of recent advances in nitrite and nitric oxide (NO) reductase enzymology (Murali et al., 2024) which suggests that AOB could utilize heme-copper-containing NO reductase (sNOR)-mediated nitrifier denitrification to generate proton motive force and conserve energy during anaerobic respiration. Our phylogenetic analysis further shows that sNOR is present in nearly 96 % of sequenced AOB genomes. We therefore suggest that sNOR-mediated nitrifier denitrification may represent a substantial, and likely increasing, contribution to global N₂O emissions, particularly in aquatic and lowland ecosystems under future climate change-induced global deoxygenation conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"215 ","pages":"Article 110098"},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146014528","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Long-term warming and vegetation change have no impact on microbial resistance to drought, but destabilise microbial communities and microbially-mediated functions","authors":"Ellen L. Fry ,&nbsp;Amy L. Evans ,&nbsp;Deborah Ashworth ,&nbsp;Ana Soto ,&nbsp;Juntao Wang ,&nbsp;Nick Ostle ,&nbsp;Brajesh K. Singh ,&nbsp;Richard D. Bardgett","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110100","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110100","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Climate change presents multiple stresses to ecosystems that operate over different timescales, such as long-term warming and short-term drought. It is well established that soil microbial communities are highly responsive to individual stresses, but how they respond combined warming and drought, and how factors such as vegetation change moderate responses, remains uncertain. Here we tested whether long-term passive warming modifies the resistance (amplitude of response) and resilience (degree and duration of recovery) of soil microbial communities to short-term drought. We also tested whether warming effects on microbial resilience to drought are moderated by vegetation composition, and specifically the presence of ericaceous dwarf shrubs, the dominant vegetation type of peatland. This was tested using soil from a nine-year warming and vegetation manipulation experiment established on blanket peatland in northern England. We completed a subsequent laboratory study designed to quantify resistance and resilience of microbial communities and microbial-mediated functions to drought. Neither long-term warming nor shrub removal impacted the resistance of microbial communities to drought. However, resilience of bacterial diversity to drought was decreased by warming (fold change 0.38) and shrub removal (fold change 0.27). Notably the interaction between warming and shrub removal resulted in higher resilience of bacterial diversity than individual treatments (fold change 0.58; warming x shrub removal: p = 0.008). Further, warming and shrub removal individually increased the diversity of fungal communities, and reduced resilience of fungal diversity to drought (fold change of warmed against unwarmed 0.11, shrub removal against control 0.39, combination against control 0.59; warming x shrub removal p = 0.006). Warming also strongly decreased resilience, but not resistance, of nitrogen-based functions to drought, although shrub removal dampened this effect. Our findings demonstrate potential for long-term warming and vegetation change to modify microbial responses to extreme drought events, with implications for peatland carbon and nitrogen cycling under future climate scenarios.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"215 ","pages":"Article 110100"},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146014830","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does soil inoculation truly steer the composition of native soil communities?","authors":"Yuhui Li ,&nbsp;Yingbin Li ,&nbsp;Xu Han ,&nbsp;Qi Li ,&nbsp;T. Martijn Bezemer","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110105","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110105","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil inoculation is a promising tool for restoring degraded ecosystems, that is based on the assumption that introduced soil communities establish in the new environment and create positive feedback with new plant communities. However, we lack empirical evidence on the extent to which the soil community present in the relatively small amount of inoculated soil can truly alter the recipient or native soil community in the field. For the first time, we measured the soil community in both the inoculated and in the underlying soil layers in a whole-soil inoculation experiment in a restoration grassland. Within the inoculated layer, nematode and bacterial communities became increasingly similar to the donor soil community. However, in the soil layer beneath the inoculated layer, the similarity of the native bacterial and nematode communities to the donor community did not change significantly over time. Only the native fungal community gradually shifted towards the community present in the donor meadow. Our study provides conclusive field evidence that soil inoculation can restructure soil biota at the recipient site, but this effect is largely restricted to the inoculated soil layer. This challenges the commonly held assumption that soil inoculation drives changes in native soil communities through positive plant-soil feedbacks.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"215 ","pages":"Article 110105"},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146072095","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Biodiversity co-variation patterns in a range of soil organism taxa across highly contrasting ecosystems","authors":"Axelle Tortosa ,&nbsp;Grégoire T. Freschet ,&nbsp;Jean Trap ,&nbsp;Alain Brauman ,&nbsp;Yvan Capowiez ,&nbsp;Sylvain Coq ,&nbsp;Jim Félix-Faure ,&nbsp;Nathalie Fromin ,&nbsp;Laure Gandois ,&nbsp;Maritxu Guiresse ,&nbsp;Raoul Huys ,&nbsp;Antoine Lecerf ,&nbsp;Jean-Marc Limousin ,&nbsp;Alexandru Milcu ,&nbsp;Johanne Nahmani ,&nbsp;Agnès Robin ,&nbsp;José Miguel Sánchez-Pérez ,&nbsp;Sabine Sauvage ,&nbsp;Tiphaine Tallec ,&nbsp;Claire Wittling ,&nbsp;Stephan Hattenschwiler","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110093","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110093","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil biodiversity as a critical component of terrestrial ecosystems and their functioning varies across spatial scales and environmental conditions. However, it remains unclear whether and how biodiversity patterns co-vary among different soil taxa across ecosystems.</div><div>In this study, we compared diversity patterns of plants, earthworms, nematodes, bacteria, and fungi, as five major groups of soil organisms, across six strongly contrasting ecosystems ranging from mountain peatland to crop fields, including within-ecosystem variation in soil moisture. We hypothesized co-variation in taxonomic richness (alpha diversity) and composition (beta diversity) of multiple groups of soil organisms across ecosystems, moisture conditions and spatial scales.</div><div>In partial contrast to our initial hypothesis, co-variation in the taxonomic richness among these groups was limited, though significant positive associations were found among bacteria, fungi, and earthworms across all sites. Plant diversity showed distinct associations with soil organism diversity, particularly with earthworms and bacteria, highlighting above–belowground biodiversity linkages. Beta diversity showed substantial co-variation among all soil organism groups, reflecting a spatial coupling of their communities that was influenced by differences in soil moisture conditions. These patterns were more pronounced in near-natural and no-till agroecosystems compared to conventional agricultural systems. Our results highlight that ecosystem type shapes broad-scale taxonomic richness, while local soil moisture critically influences soil biodiversity and spatial community composition, emphasizing the multi-scale drivers of soil biodiversity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"215 ","pages":"Article 110093"},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145972563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Advances in synergistic biotic-abiotic dehalogenation in soil: FemSn-mediated electron transfer and microbial metabolic network regulation","authors":"Boyu Jia ,&nbsp;Siyu Zhang ,&nbsp;Ningning Wu ,&nbsp;Liqi Cai ,&nbsp;Zhongdan Li ,&nbsp;Shanquan Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110084","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110084","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The integration of biotic- and abiotic-dehalogenation strategies offers a transformative approach to remediating organohalide-contaminated soils, harnessing the synergistic benefits of biological selectivity and abiotic efficiency. However, challenges in modulating electron flux partitioning at biotic-abiotic interfaces and in reconstructing adaptive microbial metabolic networks continue to impede practical implementation.</div><div>This review comprehensively synthesizes recent advances in synergistic biotic-abiotic strategies for removing organohalide pollutants from contaminated sites, with a particular emphasis on iron-sulfur mineral species (Fe_mS_n)-mediated electron transfer mechanisms and the regulation of microbial metabolic networks. In this framework, electrons are transferred <em>via</em> surface Fe–S active sites on mineral phases, enabling electron tunneling at interfaces to microbial extracellular carriers and soluble redox mediators that coordinate flux in soil dechlorination system. This review begins with respiratory electron transport chains in organohalide-respiring bacteria (OHRB), while highlighting evolutionary trade-offs in electron carrier utilization and energy conservation. It then explores microbial interactions, showing how crystallographic defect engineering enhances enzymatic activation <em>via</em> electron tunneling and mitigates nanomaterial toxicity. Extending to ecosystem dynamics, it maps electron flux routing across microbial consortia, showing in which manner nanowire topologies and redox mediators orchestrate dehalogenation pathways amid metabolic competition. Finally, it bridges scales through machine learning-driven multi-omics integration, translating atomic-scale Fe–S coordination patterns into predictive models for optimizing electron flux. Overall, this review provides critical insights for designing next-generation dehalogenation remediation strategies that maximize biotic-abiotic synergies by precisely controlling electron flux.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"215 ","pages":"Article 110084"},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145947708","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Microplastics reduce soil bacterial alpha diversity and network stability","authors":"Shunyin Huang,&nbsp;Chen Huang,&nbsp;Yan Xiao","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110085","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110085","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Global soil microplastics (MPs) pollution has become increasingly severe and is exerting persistent impacts on soil bacterial communities. Thus, a thorough investigation is imperative to elucidate the integrated impacts of MPs on soil microbial diversity, community composition, network patterns, and potential metabolic functions. In this study, we conducted a data synthesis of 182 publications and demonstrated that MPs exert pronounced adverse impacts on soil bacterial communities. Firstly, MPs significantly reduced soil bacterial alpha diversity (−1.1 % ∼ −3.2 %), with stronger inhibitory effects observed for conventional MPs, small size particles, and high dose MPs exposure. Further, biodegradable MPs significantly decreased the heterogeneity of soil bacterial communities, whereas conventional MPs increased it. Furthermore, the presence of MPs induced substantial changes in both the composition and structure of bacterial communities. Briefly, MPs significantly decreased the relative abundance of phylum <em>Firmicutes</em>, <em>Campilobacterota</em>, and <em>WPS2</em> while increased the relative abundance of class <em>Alphaproteobacteria</em> and <em>Blastocatellia</em>. Meanwhile, MPs diminished the complexity and stability of bacterial co-occurrence networks, suggesting the soil microbial community exhibits higher vulnerability to environmental disturbances. The bacterial network exhibited a keystone transition favoring organic-degrading taxa. Finally, functional profiling showed significant upregulation of genes associated with human pathogenesis, organic degradation, and nitrogen fixation, while downregulation of nitrification. Collectively, our results highlight the pervasive negative impacts of MPs on soil bacterial communities, providing critical insights for assessing the ecological consequences of soil MPs pollution.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"215 ","pages":"Article 110085"},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145957376","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Accelerated phosphorus immobilization at high soil temperatures may decrease net mineralization","authors":"Chase S. Kasmerchak ,&nbsp;Li Chongyang ,&nbsp;Andrew J. Margenot","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110096","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110096","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil phosphorus (P) mineralization (P_min) is expected to be sensitive to temperature, but the degree of temperature sensitivity remains uncharacterized. We quantified the temperature sensitivity of gross P_min, P immobilization (P_imm) and resulting net P_min at 5°, 10°, and 20 °C using ³³P-labeling and isotopic exchange kinetics in soils (0–15 cm depth) of varying biophysical properties from four sites with long-term agricultural management practices (30–145 y) and one restored prairie (34 y) encompassing a 350 km latitudinal transect representative of the central USA. Over 28 d, gross P_min and P_imm fluxes were consistently higher than 5° and 10 °C, resulting in 3.7-fold larger gross P_min versus P_imm pools at 20 °C, and 5- to 37-fold larger than gross P_min and P_imm at lower temperatures. Cumulative net P_min pools plateaued by 3–7 d at 5° and 10 °C but increased over 28 d at 20 °C. Net P_min pools more closely approximated temporal changes in gross P_min pools at 5° and 10 °C compared to at 20 °C (i.e., low P_min efficiency). Multivariate least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) models indicated gross and net P_min at 10 °C were most strongly predicted by silt plus clay content (S + C), followed by microbial biomass carbon, phosphomonoesterase activities that catalyze gross P_min and organic C-to-P ratios (C:P_o), P_imm at 5 °C by S + C and microbial biomass nitrogen, and all pools at 20 °C by P_o and microbial biomass C. Notably, phosphomonoesterase activities were important predictors of P_imm at 20 °C but not gross not net P_min. P_imm at 10 °C and both P_min pools at 5 °C were best predicted by univariate relationships with C:P_o and pH, respectively. Our study identifies the capacity for soil temperature to modulate which and how biophysical soil properties influence soil P mineralization-immobilization, with non-linear impacts of temperature on net P_min.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"215 ","pages":"Article 110096"},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146000547","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Shoot litter outweighs root inputs in building soil organic carbon during Spartina alterniflora invasion in a coastal wetland","authors":"Yamin Chen ,&nbsp;Yanghui He ,&nbsp;Lingyan Zhou ,&nbsp;Peter M. Homyak ,&nbsp;Guiyao Zhou ,&nbsp;Kaiyan Zhai ,&nbsp;Diandian Wei ,&nbsp;Boyun Tian ,&nbsp;Xuhui Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110104","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110104","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Coastal salt marsh wetlands are highly productive ecosystems with carbon (C) sequestration rates up to 40–50 times higher than forests, making them a major biome for climate change mitigation. However, plant invasions driven by human activities are altering vegetation composition, C allocation, decomposition dynamics, and ultimately the fate of soil organic C (SOC). Here we conducted a 4-year field-based mesocosm experiment to simulate the invasion of the C₄ plant, <em>Spartina alterniflora</em> Loisel, into C₃ plant-dominated coastal wetland soils and to quantify the relative contributions of above- and below-ground litter inputs to SOC formation. Taking advantage of the δ¹³C contrast between C₃ and C₄ plants, we showed that <em>S. alterniflora</em>-derived SOC increased by 9 % after four years, with aboveground litter contributing 12 times more C to the SOC pool than belowground root litter. Litter addition preferentially enriched <em>S. alterniflora</em>-derived C in macro-aggregate fractions by 10 %, while slightly reducing its contribution in the clay fractions, indicative of accelerated decomposition of native mineral-associated organic matter (“priming”). Litter inputs also enhanced soil CO₂ efflux, and its close correlation with soil δ¹³C signatures indicates that the decomposition of the added plant litter was the primary source of the newly cycled C. These findings challenge terrestrial paradigm that belowground inputs dominate long-term SOC sequestration, highlighting the pivotal role of aboveground litter in governing C cycling and storage at the terrestrial-aquatic interface.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"215 ","pages":"Article 110104"},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146048415","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}